Festival comes to the Rescue of the BBC Proms!

King’s Lynn Festival has come to the rescue of the BBC Proms by releasing a singer due to perform at a festival concert tomorrow (Tues July 22) so she can step into a major role in the Proms.

The BBC appealed to Lynn Festival organisers to allow Louise Alder –who has been hailed as “a radiant performer” – to make an 11th hour appearance in Glyndebourne’s production of Der Rosenkavalier from which a soprano has had to withdraw.

Festival artistic director Ambrose Miller said: “It would have been churlish to deny a young artist such an opportunity. Fortunately the festival has been able to bring in another equally high calibre singer to perform a different but very attractive programme.”

“This chain of events also highlights the quality and reputation of the artists we bring to Lynn Festival,” Mr Miller added.

Louise Alder, runner-up for the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier prize, will be replaced at Tuesday’s morning coffee concert in Lynn Town Hall by another Ferrier runner-up, baritone Benedict Nelson who has sung in the Wigmore Hall, in English National Opera productions and in major European opera houses. With pianist Joseph Middleton, described as “one of the brightest stars in the world of song and lieder” Benedict Nelson will present a programme including Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe and Vaughan-Williams’ Songs of Travel.